Life's Poker
by boolinger
Summary: Roy and Edward share a moment on a long train ride back home. Not yaoi, just an interesting little idea that was born from an assigment please READ AND REVIEW!


HELLO FANFICTION WORLD!!!!!!!

I haven't seen you in so long, and I'm here because I was bored and I have a particular dislike for my literature teacher. This came to me as an idea in the form of a homwork assigment; here are the instructions:

Pick any 2 of the following 4 quotes and respond to them in any way you like.

The thing that got me was the 'in any way you like'. So I decided to do it through fanfiction!!!

Here is the quote: Life is like a game of cards. The hand you are dealt with is determinism; the way you play it is free will.

Roy Mustang was a man of many talents, and many characteristics thousands wished for. His tall frame was well built, shoulders broad and chin always held up high. His black hair, in a messy style that fell perfectly as the casual formal, pale skin smooth and ageless. But most importantly, this Brigadear General was very much bored. He was on a long train ride back to central with the rest of his crew, but all seemed to have fallen asleep. Well, all the ones who he had decided to sit next to in hope of an entertaining ride. But no, Havoc, Breda, Falman and Hawkeye had all fallen asleep on him and now he was stuck, wedged next to the window with Breda slumped over him, drool getting closer and closer to him immaculate crisp blue uniform. He could do this, he was a freaking General, he could stand another, he checked his watch for the hundredth time, 4 hours. Oh, who was he kidding – he needed to get out of there now before any drool touched his uniform.

Taking a deep breath, in one smooth motion Roy stood up, eyes closed tight waiting for impact. He heard a dulled thunk like a coconut hitting the floor and he turned to see Breda still fast asleep, head attached to the poor window now. Sighting with relief Mustang went to look for any living, aware soul he knew in the blasted train. He passed Hawkeye, fast a sleep, even her dog slumbering in her lap. Armstrong asleep across his own isle, thankfully with his shirt still securely on. He was about to give up, when he saw the resident of the very last seat, Edward Elric.

He just watched for a moment, remaining silent. How different the blonde was from him. Legs sprawled in front of him, automail hand locked to hold his chin up as his eyes gazed at the passing scenery. His other hand rested in his pocket, motionless and relaxed. It was quite the picture, such a relaxed young man, clad in his traditional black and red outfit with a small content smile on his face.

Alert golden eyes regarded him and the figure sat up a little straighter.

"Hey Gen, need a companion?" The lazy tone betrayed the amount of knowledge and year of experience the man had experienced in his few years.

"Seems so, everyone else has fallen asleep." Roy just watched the blonde as he shifted in his seat, getting comfortable again.

"Go ahead and sit down, you don't need to stay up for the next 4 hours, and besides you're at an uncomfortably high angel. Not a word mind you, or you won't have anyone to occupy your time with."

"I wasn't going to say anything." Roy smirked and took the seat opposite from the Elric.

"Poker?" the offer caught Roy by surprised, he had expected this to be a lot more awkward, it seemed like the only thing the two ever did was shout and yell at each other. This was just so civil.

"Sure, I could use a good round of poker. No stakes though, I'd hate to take money from a kid."

"Watch it," Edward growled, reaching into his brown suitcase and drawing out a well worn pack of cards and shuffling them quickly, "I'll deal and you have my word of honor that I won't be cheating."

A word of honor was something Roy excepted from few people, and apparently Edward was one of them.

Roy had never played Edward before, and actually began to feel more and more outclassed with the way Edward's confidence oozed off of him from the very first game. Hesitantly Roy met his challenges, until it was just too much pressure and too much 'money' was on the line. He pulled out in what he considered a considerable loss, only to find out that Edward had had nothing. Edward had gotten him to raise the stakes higher and higher, playing at his competitive nature and had outclassed him in bluffing.

"How did you do that?!" Roy exclaimed looking at his loot leave to a nothing hand.

"Easy, don't wake the entire train up."

"No. You're cheating. You have to be. Okay, you can't be, not with that lousy hand. But how the hell did you do that?"

"What I do with my cards, anyone can do with theirs, I just figured out some way to use them to my advantage." Edward piled up the cards again, scrambling them for another round.

"Yea, but, I couldn't do that. I didn't even have that good of a hand."

"You don't get it bastard, poker isn't about the hand you have, it's about what you do with your cards. Yea, I could have just lost my anti and waited for a better hand, but why? I could do so much more with this. Cuz you see, life, like poker, is an odd gamble," he began passing out the card to each of them, "you can't control what card you get, and I can't control what cards I get, nor the ones you do. This is our starting block, we could do anything from here."

"So poker is like life, how?"

"Nobody gets a say in the cards they get, but everyone had control with how much they bet on their cards and how much they bluff to others; we don't get a say what we gt born into, but we could grow up to be anything, do anything, be anyone. That is how poker is like life."

"So, what's your game been like?" Roy asked suddenly, he didn't know why he was asking this.

"Mine? I was born to a loving mother and a father. I worked hard, I loved and I nurtured. I had a brother, he was my life. And when my mother's game was up, well, I burned some cards for her," he chuckled a dark chuckle, one with no laughter, "and I lost my brother and part of me and spend most of the rest of my hand trying to go back to what we had before. But you never know what kind of cards your opponent has, and mine had some tricks up their sleeves. But in the end I won the battle, but it turned out to be a war. I fought and I fought and fought, bluffing and lying my way through it all, struggling to remain in the game. And in the end I made it, still holding on to my hand, but I lost a lot."

Roy knew exactly what it was that he had lost, Alphonse. Alphonse had died after they had gotten his body back, died from a stab wound. It wasn't fair that something that had been the goal of a seven year long journey could end so quickly with a scared burglar at the wrong place in the wrong time. But that's what had happened, and Edward had been devastated. He had drew inside, holling himself up somewhere on the globe, away from all other contact, disappeared from the world for a couple of months. But then, slowly he began to come back. Letters began arriving. First to his childhood friend, telling her he was okay and that he may need some help with his automail. Later he even sent a letter to the military asking if he was still a major. Slowly he came out of hiding, and came back to the world. He had been more cautious then, quieter almost, but there was undeniable maturity and growth that had never shown while Alphonse was next to his side.

He devoted himself to work, not leaving the office until late at night and always coming in early to do the morning chores. He flung himself headfirst into all the cases given to him, often asking for more to be more occupied. It was obvious to everyone what he was doing, keeping himself busy so he wouldn't have time for anything else, they all saw the way he barely slept and that food became the least of his priorities. And they saw that he saw it too, saw his own avoidance. It was like watching a fallen angel trying to soar once more, but every time is spread it's wings to launch, the broken wing crumble around him into ashes once again.

It had taken a serious month of heavy drinking, and a morning of waking up on the street on a cold winter Wednesday to snap him out of it. He slowly began to smile more, slowly started integrating back into society, and now, well now he was almost like his old self. Save for the constant companion who used to be by his side.

As Roy watched the blonde watch the setting sun through eyes too old and wise for his young years he started to understand how important Edward's cards were to him. He had sacrificed so much, he barely had anything left but the only thing that kept him going was the fact that he could still have control over these card; could still decide what to do with his life. He was living for not only himself, but for Alphonse as well.

"It's just a stupid card game." Edward said suddenly, shoving the cards back into the suitcase, marking the end of their game.

TADA TADA TADA TADA TADA TADA TADA TADA TADA

Yea, so that was it, completely unpolished and stuff. As in, unbetad, so I'm sorry for any odd sentences or anything like that.

PLEASE TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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